UPDATE 1-Dow to sell part of Brazil corn seed business for $1.1 bln

Published 6:04 PM ET Tue, 11 July 2017
Reuters

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July 11 (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co said it had agreed to sell a portion of its corn seed business in Brazil to a unit of China's CITIC Ltd for $1.1 billion as it seeks to gain approval for its merger with DuPont from the country's antitrust regulator.

The divestiture includes seed processing plants and seed research centers, a copy of Dow AgroSciences' Brazilian corn germplasm bank, the Morgan seed brand and a license for the use of the Dow Sementes brand for a certain period of time, Dow said on Tuesday.

The assets being divested generated revenue of about $287 million in 2016, Dow said.

Dow and DuPont announced the all-stock merger in December 2015 in one of the largest deals ever that was valued at $130 billion.

The two companies won U.S. antitrust approval last month to merge on condition that they sell certain crop protection products and other assets. The European Union also cleared their merger in March.

Dow reaffirmed that the merger deal was expected to close next month, with the intended spin-offs to occur within 18 months of closing.

The companies have said that they would split into three separate companies specializing in material sciences, specialty products, and seeds and agrochemicals upon completion of the merger. (Reporting by Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)